Pauly Shore admits Consequence That when people started mentioning the similarities between him and fitness icon Richard Simmons, the idea of playing the man in a biopic wasn't something he had imagined. “It was more like, I don't want to say a joke, but it was more joyful. And then he started to grow like a snowball.”
Said snowball just brought the comedian and '90s icon to a snow-filled venue, the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, after making headlines with the news that he would be playing Simmons in two different projects: a short film finished from viral filmmaker Jake Lewis, and a biographical feature currently seeking writers.
Shore traces the beginning of people's interest in him playing Simmons in a series of YouTube videos he made in 2020 called Sweating with the Wiez: “It was me working out in my backyard with a girlfriend, basically straight to the camera: 'Hey, let's work out, da dah, dah dah.' That's what catapulted the chatter online, then memes started appearing. [saying] “Pauly Shore should play Richard Simmons”. That's when I started researching and publishing it, and then that “It kind of took off.”
Shore subsequently struck a deal with the Wolper Organization for a biopic about Simmons, and at the same time agreed to star in filmmaker Jake Lewis's short film. The two projects are technically separate, but came together “simultaneously,” Shore says. “The way it works is everyone works together: Jake supports us, we support him. Right now, in the other room, Jake is sitting on producer Mark Wolper's lap. So it's a great kumbaya story.”
(I confess to Shore that I'm not sure if he's joking about lap sitting or not. “No, I'm serious. We all just had lunch,” he says.)
The short film, The court jesteris not an official Sundance selection, but it was performed at a Park City club called The Cabin on Friday, January 19, at a party hosted by Shore during the festival. The full short is now streaming online.which features a fictional appearance by Richard Simmons on Ellen Degeneres' now-defunct talk show (with Degeneres played by impersonator Tamra Brown).
To play Simmons in the short, Shore embarked on “the typical investigation, which is looking at everything [Simmons’] stuff. And I started reading his memoirs, but I didn't finish them.” The biggest challenge, she notes, was not learning the dance choreography that “Richard” presents in Elena, but learning the monologue from the second half of the film, in which “Richard” gives a pep talk to a young producer (Jesse Heiman). “That was the most difficult, because you have to learn many things. “A lot of dialogue.”
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